``That's a fat, old farm dog,'' said Caruso, smiling and looking down at the motionless dog that lay in the dirt as she sorted through colorful, fresh-cut zinnias, statice, salvia, snapdragons and larkspur to make bouquets.

While it was too hot for an 8-year-old retriever to do much of anything, Caruso, who runs the organic vegetable and flower farm on Nooks Hill Road, wasn't about to slow down.

``It's not easy,'' Caruso, 49, said of organic farming. ``It's a lot of long, hot hours. You have to love it and I really do.''

Caruso and her husband, Ben, bought the 7-acre tract on the northern edge of Dead Man's Swamp in 1986 from Aldo Scotti, now deceased. The Carusos grow dozens of varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers that they sell at the farm and various farmer's markets.

Two years ago, the Carusos built a modern-style cape on the farm, much of which lies in the Connecticut River flood plain, where they live with their son, Andy. The name The Upper Forty is a whimsical takeoff on the description given many a farm or ranch in early television Westerns.

``This is my full-time job,'' said Caruso, who easily spends 70 hours a week caring for the farm or selling its flowers and produce at farmer's markets in Middletown, Meriden, Hartford and Essex.

While summertime is her busiest time of the year at the farm -- what with planting, weeding, watering, battling garden pests, harvesting and marketing -- Caruso said she begins planning for it in December. That is when she starts the next summer's crop from seed in the cellar of the house.

In January and February, she moves the young plants to a small greenhouse where they continue growing until they are planted outdoors.

But in addition to doing all the typical chores, Caruso, as a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, also keeps meticulous records of not just what, but how her garden grows.

In a 12-page report she must submit to the association, Caruso must describe, among other activities, her crop-rotation plan, and report what amounts of approved pesticides, such as pyrethrum, she might use.

Pyrethrum is an insecticide made from the dried flower heads of several varieties of old-world chrysanthemums.

Each year the association tests the soils of its member farms to ensure compliance with its strict rules on pesticides.

Caruso said that while she does some advertising, she gains many new customers via word-of-mouth. And what keeps them coming back is the freshness of what she sells.

``Yesterday morning it was in the field and yesterday afternoon I was there,'' said Brian O'Rourke, owner of O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown, who is among the faithful who frequent The Upper Forty.

Thursday in the diner's kitchen, O'Rourke was putting the finishing touches on two soups he would feature on today's menu, one a chilled cucumber and the other a hot mix of collard greens, kale and oatmeal.

O'Rourke had gone in person to the farm Wednesday to select the vegetables for his creations, including zucchini for bread.

``I don't buy her produce because it's organic, I buy it because it's fresh,'' O'Rourke said, adding that he likes to patronize the Carusos' farm because it is local and small.

``She also grows the greatest watermelon there is,'' O'Rourke said.

And both enterprises being small, the owners have gotten to know each other and help one another out. O'Rourke buys produce from the farm and Caruso supplies bouquets of flowers for the diner and takes loaves of bread O'Rourke bakes with her when she goes to various farmer's markets to sell.